Chelsea’s Monitor baseball club wraps up another great season – Heritage Newspapers

CHELSEA — In the 1860s, baseball players caught balls barehanded, fans were called “cranks,” and America’s past time was still evolving.

The game they played — called vintage baseball now — had slightly different rules and equipment back then.

A couple dozen vintage baseball clubs have formed across Michigan in the last few decades. They follow old rules, use (slightly) softer balls and wooden bats, and wear uniforms inspired by days gone by.

Four years ago, a group of amateur adult “ballists” resurrected the Civil War-era Monitor Base Ball Club of Chelsea in name and in spirit. Home games at Timber Town park drew enthusiastic crowds this summer.

Chelsea also has a new ladies vintage team now. The Merrimack or “Merries” for short, played their first season this year.

As evidenced by the Monitors’ last home game of the season, a win against the Northville Eclipse on Sept. 14, game play can be captivating. It was a sliver-close match of equals, and Chelsea won 9-8 in the 10th inning. Northville Eclipse came up from behind to tie at 8 in the 6th inning, pushing the game into OT.

According to the team’s captain “Honest” Jon Van Hoek, “good sportsmanship and fun” is more important than winning, he says.

Although fans certainly root for their home team to win, “we want our fans to cheer for both teams, which is something you don’t see all the time,” he says.

When he first organized the men’s team four seasons ago, Van Hoek wanted to make sure the team “had an actual connection to the history of baseball here in Chelsea. Local history comes to life in the game action.”

The first record of a baseball club in Chelsea, which Van Hoek has found, is from 1861. That was the Union Base Ball Club of Chelsea. He also found records of the Monitor Base Ball Club from 1867 and learned that they were named after a Civil War battleship. By 1876, the Chelsea Baseball Club was playing games. Continued…

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“In the 1860s, there were national conventions where they tried to formalize the rules and get all the clubs to follow them. It went from just a past time to an organized sport,” Van Hoek says.

“We capture just a snippet of baseball’s history and evolution,” he says. “Back then, the pitcher’s role was different…it was much more of a batting and fielding game,” Van Hoek says.

For example, “the pitcher’s job was to deliver a hittable ball,” he says. “We don’t call balls or strikes [unless a batter swings and misses three times], so the batter can wait and pick the one he wants to swing at,” Van Hoek says.

This means many vintage baseball games are high scoring. Some of the Monitors’ tallies have reached into the 20’s and 30’s.

“Certain things have evolved, like the pitcher’s role. They started deviating from lofting the ball underhand into the strike zone to throwing overhand and doing curve balls and what-not. It became necessary for balls and strikes to be called,” Van Hoek says.

As time went on, batters (called “strikers”) started hitting balls harder, “and players started wearing work gloves, originally, and those turned into gloves with padding,” he says.

Staying true to 1860s game play, vintage teams play without gloves. Van Hoek admits catching baseballs barehanded can hurt, but it makes for interesting strategies.

The team is associated with the Chelsea Area Historical Society and often plays at historical events and venues, like Greenfield Village. There is certainly a history lesson wrapped into a vintage game. However, Van Hoek says vintage baseball is different from a history lesson and things like Civil War reenactments.

“I feel like we take it a step further because it’s all unscripted action. The game is still a competition. You don’t only imagine being back in the 1860s. The game play is what is compelling,” Van Hoek says.

Local chiropractor Jim “Doc” Duncan has played baseball and fast pitch softball throughout his life. As he gets older, “I can’t quite keep up with the young kids, and a lot of [amateur adult] baseball teams have more people in their 20s and early 30s,” he says. Continued…

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• See Full Story

CHELSEA — In the 1860s, baseball players caught balls barehanded, fans were called “cranks,” and America’s past time was still evolving.

The game they played — called vintage baseball now — had slightly different rules and equipment back then.

A couple dozen vintage baseball clubs have formed across Michigan in the last few decades. They follow old rules, use (slightly) softer balls and wooden bats, and wear uniforms inspired by days gone by.

Four years ago, a group of amateur adult “ballists” resurrected the Civil War-era Monitor Base Ball Club of Chelsea in name and in spirit. Home games at Timber Town park drew enthusiastic crowds this summer.

Chelsea also has a new ladies vintage team now. The Merrimack or “Merries” for short, played their first season this year.

As evidenced by the Monitors’ last home game of the season, a win against the Northville Eclipse on Sept. 14, game play can be captivating. It was a sliver-close match of equals, and Chelsea won 9-8 in the 10th inning. Northville Eclipse came up from behind to tie at 8 in the 6th inning, pushing the game into OT.

According to the team’s captain “Honest” Jon Van Hoek, “good sportsmanship and fun” is more important than winning, he says.

Although fans certainly root for their home team to win, “we want our fans to cheer for both teams, which is something you don’t see all the time,” he says.

When he first organized the men’s team four seasons ago, Van Hoek wanted to make sure the team “had an actual connection to the history of baseball here in Chelsea. Local history comes to life in the game action.”

The first record of a baseball club in Chelsea, which Van Hoek has found, is from 1861. That was the Union Base Ball Club of Chelsea. He also found records of the Monitor Base Ball Club from 1867 and learned that they were named after a Civil War battleship. By 1876, the Chelsea Baseball Club was playing games.

“In the 1860s, there were national conventions where they tried to formalize the rules and get all the clubs to follow them. It went from just a past time to an organized sport,” Van Hoek says.

“We capture just a snippet of baseball’s history and evolution,” he says. “Back then, the pitcher’s role was different…it was much more of a batting and fielding game,” Van Hoek says.

For example, “the pitcher’s job was to deliver a hittable ball,” he says. “We don’t call balls or strikes [unless a batter swings and misses three times], so the batter can wait and pick the one he wants to swing at,” Van Hoek says.

This means many vintage baseball games are high scoring. Some of the Monitors’ tallies have reached into the 20’s and 30’s.

“Certain things have evolved, like the pitcher’s role. They started deviating from lofting the ball underhand into the strike zone to throwing overhand and doing curve balls and what-not. It became necessary for balls and strikes to be called,” Van Hoek says.

As time went on, batters (called “strikers”) started hitting balls harder, “and players started wearing work gloves, originally, and those turned into gloves with padding,” he says.

Staying true to 1860s game play, vintage teams play without gloves. Van Hoek admits catching baseballs barehanded can hurt, but it makes for interesting strategies.

The team is associated with the Chelsea Area Historical Society and often plays at historical events and venues, like Greenfield Village. There is certainly a history lesson wrapped into a vintage game. However, Van Hoek says vintage baseball is different from a history lesson and things like Civil War reenactments.

“I feel like we take it a step further because it’s all unscripted action. The game is still a competition. You don’t only imagine being back in the 1860s. The game play is what is compelling,” Van Hoek says.

Local chiropractor Jim “Doc” Duncan has played baseball and fast pitch softball throughout his life. As he gets older, “I can’t quite keep up with the young kids, and a lot of [amateur adult] baseball teams have more people in their 20s and early 30s,” he says.

The Monitors is an all-inclusive team — all ages and skill levels are welcome. The men’s and women’s teams also encourage people to join in on practices.

“This is a good way to keep playing the game. And it is still challenging because the rules are different, which makes it fun,” Duncan says.

The Monitors will take on the Dexter Union, on Sept. 27 at the “Webster Fall Festival,” time TBD, after a match in Okemos on Sept. 20. The next season starts in May 2015.

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